Chapter 52 Failure
RB Chapter 52 Failure
After seeing that there wasn't any obstacle at the front, Eric turned his head sideways.
"Why are you shouting?" Eric asked. Elec was shouting, but at the speed they were travelling at, it couldn't reach his ears.
His face was adorned with a terrifying expression.
'This idiot must have opened his mouth.' He thought.
Elec was clutching his neck. His face, a mixture of disgust and terror.
Eric decided to stop and see what was up with him.
"I...peh! I think I swallowed a bug!" Elec said the moment they stopped.
"Why did you open your mouth?" Eric asked in frustration.
"I wanted to try and breathe in!"
"Haaah! Are you stupid?" Eric asked.
"Let's go! Every second we waste here is dangerous!" Eric decided to ignore what Elec was going to say next.
He felt multiple presences were converging in them. The tall grass didn't so much as sway making him deduce that they were underground.
He had a worried expression. The presences were many.
The moment they neared the city wall, they saw a large hole. It was like something had crashed into the wall and made the hole.
The wall was about 10m in height and a few damaged cables were peeking out of the damaged wall. Those were probably ones which transported the electricity which used to support a large barrier, which could engulf the entire city.
The two boys climbed the pieces of rubble into the city. Eric hurriedly spotted a damaged house missing a roof. He led Elec into it and they his in a well concealed corner.
"Too bad it has no roof, I can see flying beasts in the distance, if they spot us, it will be game over." Eric whispered as he looked through a hole.
"We are going to need to be stealthy." He whispered to Elec behind him.
Eric's heartbeat increased abruptly. He had caught sight of a beast heading their way.
Through the hole, he saw something resembling a rhino. It had two horns on its snout and a single eye. The eye was of a honeycomb like structure of some flies, meaning it had 180 degree vision.
'Shit! Wait! This must be a herbivore! If it is like the rhinos of old, it has a charge attack. Hmmm...should we take it on!' He wondered.
'There is no other beast in the vicinity. If we strike fast, we can change locations before any other creatures attack.'
"Elec, there is a rhino like beast." He whispered and gestured towards the hole.
Elec scooted closer and looked through catching sight of the beast.
"But isn't its skin too hard?" He asked.
"That's why we need to find a weakness and end it in one blow!" Eric answered in annoyance.
"If we want to find another lone beast, it might take too long."
"Okay, let's do it!" Elec agreed.
Right now, they were in a corner of the building, so they moved backwards, without any making any loud sounds, back to where they came from and exited the building after seeing no other bast in sight.
This must have been a residential area as tgere were many houses with an attached courtyard.
They moved along the wall and reached an area where they would be able to see the beast by peeking.
"Hooo..."
"Hold your breath! We don't know what sensory organs it has!" When Elec let out a breath, Eric chasitised him. They needed to be quiet!
He moved his head closer to the corner and peeked. His heart almost stopped, he almost shouted!
The beast's lone eye was staring directly at him! That was the feeling he got!
It grunted and rubbed its left leg on the ground. It was preparing to charge!
"Move!" That was the only word that Eric managed to utter before he pushed Elec and himself away from the wall.
The moment the beast kicked off the ground, its acceleration went off the charts! Moving from zero to fast was instantaneous!
Eric and Elec were still in midair when it collided with the corner they had been hiding behind shattering the concrete like it was paper!
'Its fast!' That thought passed through both the minds of the boys.
They rolled upon hitting the ground and hurriedly stood up. The rhino like beast continued its charge for 10 more meters before managing to come to a stop. A gully had formed from its starting point, to its end point.
"Let's split up! Whoever it goes after will be the bait." Eric urgently said before running away from Elec, heading towards the rhino. He had the highest chance of surviving if he acted as the bait.
He approached from the front, head-on! He wanted the beast to charge at him.
"Elec! If you don't try to attack I will kill you myself!" He shouted.
Adrenaline was coursing through his veins, energy being channeled throughout his body and his senses, sharpened!
In order to survive, risks had to be taken!
Elec didn't dawdle. He too traced an arc as he ran towards Eric. Their paths were bound to cross at a specific point.
The beast caught the two boys in its vision and once against broke into a charge, its target, Eric!
In a blink of an eye, it was just a half meter away from Eric.
'Too fast! Evasion might be hard!' He judged. He tapped lightly on the ground and sped up. He moved his hands and caught the two horns of the beast. One was above the other. But his momentum alone only managed to slow the beast a tiny bit.
That tiny bit created a chance for Elec. He had managed to gain a little understanding of energy channeling.
He channeled it to his feet and kicked off the ground shattering it. He was coming from the left side, his fingers in a knife like form. His attack was headed for the beast's lone eye. It was a risky move, but he had a sort of tacit understanding with Eric.
They had discovered that they had impeccable teamwork during the hunt of the last two critters back in the grove.
But they had forgotten one thing, this rhino had 180 degree vision!
As Elec was about two meters away, preparing to punch that oversized eye, the rhino beast abruptly turned sideways with such force that, Eric had no choice but to let go.
"Kuh!" His mouth widened letting out a sound of pain. His back had collided with something and his back bone almost broke from the pain.
"Shit!" Elec's momentum was killed and they fell in a heap.
"What happened?" Elec asked. He was truly puzzled.
"We forgot that this beast has special eyes!" Eric said as he hurriedly picked himself up.
His back was in pain.
"Ouch!" A moan escaped his lips when he stood up. The blow had been too strong! Elec's head had collided with his back.
"Let's chalk this up as a failure and get out of here!" Eric said before hurriedly running away with Elec in tow.
He felt as if he would die from the pain but he grit his teeth. They had to first lose the rhino.
It was a good thing there were buildings around and after multiple turns, they had lost the beast.
Eric was perspiring madly. His teeth were chattering! He wanted to scream but this wasn't the place. The pain had escalated.
"I need...to lie...down." He spoke through clenched teeth. His voice was hoarse.
He directly laid down without waiting for Elec's objection or agreement.
"Hooo...!" His lips made a whistle like noise when his back settled on the ground.
"Sorry!?" Elec didn't know what to do or say.
"It isn't your fault!" Eric practically forced the words out of his mouth.
They were hiding in a house with a few parts of the roof still intact. The shining sun brightened up the dark place when the rays passed through the holes.
"What are we going to do next? We used up a considerable amount of energy." Elec started panicking.
"We will find some other beast. There has to be multiple in this place." Eric soothed him. The pain was decreasing little by little. Good thing he had a durable and flexible backbone, or else it could have shattered!
"After I recover, we will go in search of another beast. This time we will be extra cautious!" He fist pumped with a serious expression. This time no more mistakes were allowed!
Some time passed, now it was currently midday.
"My energy is too little, I don't think I will even have the strength to fight another battle!" Elec complained.
"Are you listening?" He spoke once again when he heard no response.
Only the sound of gentle breaths could be heard when he listened. He looked towards Eric only to see that he was sleeping.
"He's sleeping? Now, when will we get to hunt?"
(Brrrrr!)
"Hahahaha..." The sound of Eric's rumbling stomach even when he was sleeping made a chuckle to escape his lips.
TRIVIA
In this current century, all the classifications of flora and fauna vanished. Two rhinoceroses can have very different genetic evolutions even when they are in the same group. Plus, no one has the time for that!